Orange County teens busted for singing obscure Nazi song while giving Hitler salutes

Nearly a dozen high school students from Southern California delivered Nazi salutes and sang a Nazi marching song in a video posted on social media.

The video was uploaded to Instagram by one member of the boys’ water polo team at Pacifica High School in Garden Grove, California, along with lyrics to the song played for German troops during World War II, reported The Daily Beast.

A spokesperson for the Garden Grove Unified School District told the website administrators learned of the incident in March, four months after the video was posted, but declined to say whether any of the students were disciplined.

“While the district cannot comment on student discipline, the school did address this situation with all involved students and families,” the spokesperson said. “The district adheres to strong policies about harassment and cultural sensitivity, and we condemn all acts of anti-Semitism and hate in all forms."

One parent of a Pacifica student expressed concern that educators never addressed the video with the school community, even after it circulated widely among students, and one current student said administrators never discussed the incident.

The athletes sang a song written during Adolf Hitler's rise by German composer Herms Niel, a member of the Nazi party who conducted bands at the infamous Nuremberg rallies and rallied troops serving in the Third Reich.

Peter Simi, a professor on extremism studies at Chapman University who lives near the school in Orange County, wondered how the teens learned about the historically obscure song.

“It’s not something you’d expect somebody to accidentally know about," Simi said. "There’s some means by which they acquired knowledge about the song and associated Nazi issues. Are they on websites or web forums or other social media platforms where they’re engaging with others informed on these issues?”

Students at another Orange County high school were suspended after photos went viral showing them playing beer pong with cups arranged in a swastika, and with the teens extending their arms in Nazi salutes.